Adani Ports to acquire stake in Gangavaram Port for $270m

The Adani Ports and Special Economic Zones (Adani Ports or APSEZ) will acquire the 31.5% stake owned by Windy Lakeside Investment in the Gangavaram Port (GPL) in Visakhapatnam (Vizag), Andhra Pradesh for INR 19.54 billion ($270 million).

The Adani Group company is acquiring nearly 16.3 crore shares at INR 120 per share from the Warburg Pincus affiliate.

Adani Ports said that it is also in talks with DVS Raju & Family for acquiring their stake of 58.1% stake in the Gangavaram Port.

DVS Raju – Chairman of Gangavaram Port said: “We are very proud of the remarkable success of Gangavaram Port in becoming one of India’s leading and most efficient deep water ports with ultra modern infrastructure.

“Warburg Pincus has been a supportive partner in this journey, and we look forward to the Adani Group’s contributions in the next phase of the port’s growth.”

The Andhra Pradesh government has a stake of 10.4% in the port, which is located in the northern part of the southern Indian state, near the Vizag Port.

It is an all-weather, deep water, multi-purpose port with a capacity of 64 MMT.

The concession for the Gangavaram Port from the Andhra Pradesh government is till 2059.

The port can handle fully laden super cape size vessels of up to 200,000 DWT.

Presently, the Gangavaram Port operates nine berths. It has free hold land of approximately 1,800 acres.

According to Adani Ports, the port has a master plan capacity of 250 MMTPA with 31 berths.

Adani Ports to acquire stake in Gangavaram Port in Vizag for $270m. Photo courtesy of Chinni/Wikipedia.org.

The Andhra Pradesh port is engaged in handling a varied mix of dry and bulk commodities. These include coal, iron ore, fertilizer, bauxite, sugar, limestone, steel, and alumina.

Karan Adani – CEO and Whole Time Director of Adani Ports said: “The acquisition of GPL is a part of our continued strategy to build out a port and logistics network that is unmatched in its ability to serve customers across the nation. The location of GPL in the north of AP is a strategic complement to our recent acquisition of the Port of Krishnapatnam that serves the south of AP.

“We believe that GPL holds great potential to complement its bulk cargo terminals with new cargo categories that we intend to develop.

“The port provides us great access to an adjacent hinterland that was largely untapped by APSEZ thereby placing us in a position to serve a broader set of port customers as well as expand our overall hinterland logistics footprint for a much larger base of customers.”

The acquisition is subject to receipt of regulatory approvals.